NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Focuses On Huge ‘Hole’ On Sun

captured by NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory

This imagery of the sun captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory from last year shows a giant dark area on the star’s upper half, known as a coronal hole. (NASA Image)

(NASA) – This imagery of the sun captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory last year shows a giant dark area on the star’s upper half, known as a coronal hole.

Coronal holes are low-density regions of the sun’s atmosphere, known as the corona. Because they contain little solar material, they have lower temperatures and thus appear much darker than their surroundings.

Coronal holes are visible in certain types of extreme ultraviolet light, which is typically invisible to our eyes, but is colorized here in purple for easy viewing.

These coronal holes are important to understanding the space environment around Earth through which our technology and astronauts travel.